Saina Wins Eighth Big 12 Track Title

WACO, Texas- Iowa State All-American Betsy Saina led a Cyclone attack in the 5,000-meter run that took the 1-3-5-7 spots Sunday at the Big 12 Championships. The Iowa State women finished fourth overall with 89 points. Kansas won the women's competition with 158 points. The Iowa State men finished ninth.

Saina finished first in the race in a Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex stadium record time of 15:41.64. She was followed by teammates Meaghan Nelson (third), Dani Stack (fifth), and Samantha Bluske (seventh).

“Betsy was tremendous again today,” Iowa State head coach Corey Ihmels said. “I thought that the distance kids in the 5k did a tremendous job. They scored 50 points in the 5k and the 10k combined and that’s pretty impressive.”

Saina, now an eight-time Big 12 Champion, was happy to have one more run at the Big 12 Championships.

“It’s exciting, today was my last Big 12 Championship and so what I wanted to do today was have fun,” Saina said. “When you do something you love it will always be fun and I am happy to have run at the Big 12 Championships again.”

Maggie Gannon and Edwin Serem both placed in the women's and men's 1,500-meter finals, respectively. Both Cyclone runners set a personal best time in the race. Gannon finished the race in third 4:26.32. Serem shaved over eight seconds off of his previous best time to run a 3:45.00, good for fourth.

“Maggie put herself in great position, she showed all year long that she is capable of anything,” distance coach Sara Vergote said. “The guys side was really well executed by Edwin. He did a great job of putting himself in a good position. The Big 12 is probably the strongest 1,500-meter conference in the country. Edwin has improved dramatically over the last month and it has showed.”

Senior Ese Okoro earned third place in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 57.50. Donnise Powell also competed in the race finshing with a personal best time of 59.25.

Mohamed Hrezi led the men in the 5,000-meter run with a sixth-place finish for the Cyclones. Hrezi’s finished the race in a time of 14:06.22. The Iowa State men finished ninth with 51.50 points. Texas won the men’s side with 146.50.

“The men scored in a lot of different areas, we just didn’t score enough,” Ihmels said. “We made some progress, but we have to get better. We are not that far from being in the top half of the conference. Some kids will need to step up, but we’re excited about the challenge.”

Jan Jeuschede, Nick Efkamp, and Kevin Poster all had personal best marks that resulted in them placing in the final eight.

Jeuschede’s mark of 59-06.75 was good enough for a fourth-place finish in the men’s shot put.

Efkamp, the indoor 400-meter dash champion, earned fifth place in the 400-meter run with a personal best time of 46.70.

Kevin Poster added almost an entire foot to his previous best mark in the triple jump. He finished sixth with a jump of 49-00.75.

The Cyclones return to action May, 12 at the Kansas State Open in Manhattan, Kan. Results will be available on cyclones.com at the conclusion of the meet.